Hillary Clinton Said What?

According to CNN, regarding Clinton’s meeting in China:

“Human rights cannot interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises,” Clinton said.

I’m not going to get all political here, but what? I’m waiting for Clinton to reach behind her ear, pull off the elaborate latex mask she’s wearing and reveal herself as Donald Rumsfeld. It’s all human rights, people!

Maybe We’ll Be Okay

I’ve seen two things recently that 1) make me feel old, and 2) give me some measure of hope that the world is not completely going to hell in a handbasket.

The first one is this video of teenagers playing some really kick-ass bluegrass, via BoingBoing:

 

And the second one is this photo of Greek teenagers confronting riot police during the late riots in that country (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images), also via BoingBoing:

Election Day

In 1860, a farmer named Philemon Stout of Sangamon County, Illinois, went to the polls and voted for Stephen Douglas over Abraham Lincoln. He made the following entry in his diary.

November 6: Went to Chatham for the election. They had some liquor and hard fighting but so far as voting was concerned all was peaceable.

Good times.

This is Not Funny

Warning: this post contains political content that may be hazardous to your health, happiness, and any breakable objects that happen to be within arm’s reach. 

I always intended this blog to be a way for me to think about the idea of balance. I wanted to talk about good things, positive things, rather than use it as way to complain or be negative. I realized back in May that I spent a fair amount of time doing the latter, and I wanted to use this space to create a different mindset for myself.

I still see it like that, but today I have to mention something that scares the ever-loving crap out of me: the backlash against Obama now that he’s pulling ahead in the polls. From McCain’s attack ads that portray Obama as “dangerous,” to his derogatory “that one” remark in the last debate, to the incomprehensible anger, fear, and suspicion that McCain supporters demonstrate at rallies, I really genuinely fear for our nation, not to mention Obama if he should be elected.

Not only does all of this have a basis in racism, it also comes from a deep-seated fear among many Americans of “the Other,” which McCain/Palin have been tapping into to portray Obama as some sort of outsider with different values and a threatening agenda. This says some really ugly things about our country, and if the economic concerns weren’t bad enough, I think we are now also facing a pretty serious culture war that may well take to the streets. With the right combination of social and economic stressors, I think we’ve got some really dark days ahead.

We’ve been so comfortable in this country for so long, I don’t think many folks would admit that widespread social conflict could ever seriously destabilize our nation. For example, look how fast most people forgot about the travesty of the 2000 election. At the time, people were literally fighting in the streets, but now nobody seems to remember, or care. If you mention “hanging chads” they might say something like, “oh yeah, I remember Jay Leno or Saturday Night Live did a bit about that,” but that’s about it. But now, when a lot of people are under daily stress just to make ends meet (which will probably still get worse before it gets better, says I), there’s a lot more anxiety out there for fear-mongers to tap into. The political contest becomes a lens through which all of our other problems (personal, cultural, social, economic) get reflected and amplified, and it’s becoming more and more obvious that those problems run a lot deeper than most of us have been willing to admit. Put the system under a bit of stress, and the weak points become much more obvious.

I don’t know what to do about any of this, or what to say in the way of a conclusion, other than to simply say “heads up.” Or maybe, “keep your head down.” Or maybe, “move your head to Holland.”